Marcin said that on his first day in Phoenix he asked Robin if practice started on the court or with a video session. Robin told Marcin that he didn't know so Gortat went to the gym while Lopez went to watch video. According to Gortat, a coach came to get him and asked why he was late and Marcin said that he had asked Robin and was told he didn't know where practice was starting. The coach said everyone knew where they were supposed to be. Marcin took that as a sign of where things stood between himself and Lopez.

Gortat went on to talk about the opportunity that Lopez had to earn and keep the starting job.

"This guy (Lopez) had such a big chance, such a big opportunity, to play in the best league. When I was Orlando, playing behind Dwight (Howard), I was praying to get a chance to play and he (Lopez) has had this chance for two years and he didn't take.

‘That’s probably been the biggest mystery for our team,’ coach Alvin Gentry said when asked why Lopez’s progression has stopped. ‘In actuality, we really thought that he would probably be the second-most-important guy on our team, especially if he took a big leap. I’m not real sure if it’s the injury or what, but he hasn’t been able to give us the consistent play that we thought we’d be able to get from him. We could use it. It’s something that has hurt us a bit. We haven’t really had much inside play. Gortat gives us some. Other than that, we’ve been pretty much resigned to the fact that we’re a perimeter team. That hurts you when you’re going to rely on jump shots night in and night out, even as good of a shooting team as we are.’”

"Steve is a Phoenix Sun and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he's the face of that franchise," Bill Duffy, Nash's longtime agent, told ESPN.com this week. "But logic dictates that it would be prudent for the Suns to start looking at their long-term future in the summer, so we would expect that they may entertain moving him during the summer. We are ready for that and we anticipate a very respectful process if they decide to look at starting over with a younger core."

Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns won’t admit it, but both player and team are looking to part ways. They’d be negligent not to.

After all, Nash –despite being one of the game’s fittest players- is getting older and wants a chance at a championship, while the Suns need to rebuild with younger assets.

Nash moving on makes sense for all parties. How Nash moves on is far more complicated.

For instance, Nash won’t request a trade. He’s too loyal and fearful of a backlash. In fact, last week he told ESPN’s Marc Stein he’s too ‘old school’ to ask the Suns to deal him.

Meanwhile, the Suns will never admit to shopping Nash. The tiny table-setter is a two-time MVP and beloved figure around Phoenix.

Conversely, Suns’ owner Robert Sarver has taken his fair share of hits and can’t afford to look like the bad guy with Nash. He and Coach Alvin Gentry will deny, deny, deny when reporters ask about the rumors of a Nash swap.

It’s also no coincidence that Stein reported these comments from Nash’s agent. Clearly, Nash and Stein have a relationship.

I am not suggesting Nash or Stein, one of the best in the business, have engaged in questionable or unethical behaviour. I am only suggesting that Nash trusts Stein to break news in a fair, equitable manner. This is the mark of a good reporter.

For instance, two years ago, Nash held his charity basketball game in my home of Vancouver, Canada. I covered the event, as did Stein –even though, it was during the dog days of summer and there were no real scoops or major news to be had.

Perhaps Nash asked Stein to attend what was essentially a glorified pick-up game for a good cause. Perhaps Stein agreed to go because he knew he would further his relationship with the Nash machine.

I don’t know much else about their relationship. What I do know is that these comments from Nash’s agent are a cautious attempt to test the trade waters. They felt comfortable that Stein would report their feelings in a responsible manner.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Is Josh Childress next? What about Steve Nash?

No player is safe in the cut-cost world of Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver. Sarver, who was never the most generous of owners, has had his real estate and banking empire decimated by the economic recession.

Every player is expendable -especially those with long-term and expensive contracts.

Expect the Suns to shop Childress. Since returning from Europe, the Stanford alum hasn’t distinguished himself as a regular contributor off Alvin Gentry’s bench. Then he got injured and will miss several weeks.

Team and player are disappointed. Fair enough. However, the season is barely two months old and cutting ties would seem premature.

After all, Childress is versatile, smart, and talented. Given time, he’d figure things out and become a valuable reserve and spot starter –even for a team loaded on the wing like the Suns.

Money matters for Sarver and the Suns. In fact, the bottom line is everything. So they’re looking to get Childress’ multi-year deal for mid level money off their books.

The sooner, the better.

Moving Nash would be trickier. He’s revered in Phoenix. His contract is reasonable. Trading the two-time MVP would signal to fans that Sarver has thrown in the towel.

However, Father Time will eventually catch Kid Canada. It has to. And he may not want to waste his time with a team that has zero interest in winning.

So the Suns and Nash may part. And like everything with Sarver, money will be the root of the problem.

Steve Nash takes in the trade talk and returns a measured response, but Suns coach Alvin Gentry isn't ... He stepped in to end Nash's interview and then he made out trade speculators to be ridiculous. "Steve's not going to be traded, that I can tell you," Gentry said. "If he's getting traded, I'm going along with him, OK? Have you looked at the way he's playing? He's playing at a real high level. Why would we trade him? I don't understand that. That's nothing that's been discussed here. It's not going to happen."

"It would be nice," Dudley said of an extension. "I'm not optimistic. My mindset is to go out and play my last year and go as far as we can. At the end of the year, I know if we win, I'm going to have a good year. I do a pretty good job of keeping healthy. My goal is to come out and have a better year than last year and have the team better. When a team is successful, everybody usually does pretty well. Look at Channing (Frye). $30 million. Tell him (to) let me get a little bit of that."

HoopsVibe's Quick Call: The Phoenix Suns' zone, fast tempo, and affinity for the three-point shot wasn't enough because the Los Angeles Lakers were simply better and deserved to advance to the NBA Finals.

For instance, the Suns' fourth quarter charge was put out by Kobe Bryant, who nailed two clutch jumpers, even though Grant Hill was playing air tight defense. After sinking the second jumper, Bryant even gave Suns coach Alvin Gentry a friendly tap and stretched his arms in celebration.

The Lakers will now face the Boston Celtics in a classic finals match-up.

These two teams met in the 2008 NBA Finals, with the Celtics prevailing in six games because of their superior toughness down-low.

The 2010 championship will also be decided in the paint. Expect Boston to try and impose their will with bigs like Glen Davis, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, and Rasheed Wallace, while L.A. will be anxious to show they can mix it up in the middle.

Got thoughts on a Boston-Los Angeles NBA Finals? Come back to HoopsVibe for more Finals coverage.

HoopsVibe's Quick Call: It would have been understandable if this was Alvin Gentry's reaction to Jason Richardson forgetting to box-out and allowing Ron Artest to win game five of the Western Conference Finals with a bank shot at the buzzer.

However, J-Rich's mishap wasn't the cause of the Phoenix Suns' sideline boss coming down with a case of gag reflex.

Instead, Gentry got up close and personal with the trash because of an upset stomach during the second quarter of Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Watch the clip, if you like, and tell us if Gentry will be need the Pepto Bismol for game six of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Suns.

(Charles Barkley: That is what you get for eating deep fried avocado.)

Mavericks guard Jason Terry motivated the Suns to play better defense with comments he made back in late January.

While giving a halftime interview during a game in which Dallas was beating Phoenix at home, Terry said: "We've got to score on these guys. They're not very good defensively and we've got to make them pay."

The Suns have used the quote as motivation and coach Alvin Gentry threw it in their faces.

"With all the repetition and practice, it (Terry's comment) sparked more of a defensive mind-set for us because we knew we had to defend to win that game," Suns forward Grant Hill said.

"He's the best closer in the history of the game if you ask me," Gentry said. "Yeah, that is including Michael Jordan. I just think what he's done this year, to have six game-winning shots that come on the last possession of the game, I don't know if anybody has ever done that.

"If that's the case, we have to try to make somebody else be that closer. That's not to say that he'll give it up. I've seen him make it over three guys, too. But as far as we're concerned, we have to try to get the ball out of his hands some kind of way."

Gentry noted that Bryant was on the floor at 4:45 p.m. putting up shots - and it turned out he actually had gotten out there about a half-hour earlier.

"I tell our guys, 'You want to be great?' That's how you become great," Gentry said.